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After we have gone up the Black River about thirty leagues, we find to the left a brook of salt water, which comes from the west. In going up this brook about two leagues, we meet with a lake of salt water, which may be two leagues in length, by one in breadth. A league higher up to the north, we meet another lake of salt water, almost as long and broad as the former.

This water, doubtless, passes through some mines of salt; it has the taste of salt, without that bitterness of the sea-water. The Indians come a great way off to this place, to hunt in winter, and make salt. Before the French trucked coppers with them, they made upon the spot pots of earth for this operation: and they returned home loaded with salt and dry provisions.

To the east of the Black River we observe nothing that indicates mines; but to the west one might affirm there should be some, from certain marks, which might well deceive pretended connoisseurs. As for my part, I would not warrant that there were two mines in that part of the country, which seems to promise them. I should rather be led to believe that they are mines of salt, at no great depth from the surface of the earth, which, by their volatile and acid spirits, prevent the growth of plants in those spots.

Ten or twelve leagues above this brook is a creek, near which those Natchez retreated, who escaped being made slaves with the rest of their nation, when the Messrs. Perier extirpated them on the east side of the river, by order of the Court.

The Black River takes its rise to the north-west of its confluence, and pretty near the river of the Arkansas, into which falls a branch from this rise or source; by means of which we may have a communication from the one to the other with a middling carriage. This communication with the river of the

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Arkansas is upwards of an hundred leagues from the Post of that name. In other respects, this Black River might carry a boat throughout, if cleared of the wood fallen into its bed, which generally traverses it from one side to the other. It receives some brooks, and abounds in excellent fish, and in alligators.

I make no doubt but these lands are very fit to bear and produce every thing that can be cultivated with success on the east of the Missisippi, opposite to this side, except the canton or quarter between the river of the Taensas and the Missisippi; that land, being subject to inundations, would be proper only for rice.

I imagine we may now pass on to the north of the river of the Arkansas, which takes its rise in the mountains adjoining to the east of Santa Fe. It afterwards goes up a little to the north, from whence it comes down to the south, a little lower than its source. In this manner it forms a line parallel almost with the Red River.

That river has a cataract or fall, at about an hundred and fifty leagues from its confluence. Before we come to this fall, we find a quarry of red-veined marble, one of slate, and one of plaster. Some travellers have there observed grains of gold in a little brook: but as they happened to be going in quest of a rock of emeralds, they deigned not to amuse themselves with picking up particles of gold.

This river of the Arkansas is stored with fish; has a great deal of water; having a course of two hundred and fifty leagues, and can carry large boats quite to the cataract. Its banks are covered with woods, as are all the other rivers of the country. In its course it receives several brooks or rivulets, of little consequence, unless we except that called the White River, and which discharges itself into the curve or elbow of that we are speaking of, and below its fall.

In the whole tract north of this river, we find plains that extend out of sight, which are vast meadows, intersected by groves, at no great distance from one another, which are all tall woods, where we might easily hunt the stag; great numbers

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of which, as also of buffaloes, are found here. Deer also are very common.

From having seen those animals frightened at the least noise, especially at the report of a gun, I have thought of a method to hunt them, in the manner the Spaniards of New Mexico do, which would not scare them at all, and which would turn to the great advantage of the inhabitants, who have this game in plenty in their country. This hunting might be set about in winter, from the beginning of October, when the meadows are burnt, till the month of February.

This hunting is neither expensive nor fatiguing: horses are had very cheap in that country, and maintained almost for nothing. Each hunter is mounted on horseback, and armed with a crescent somewhat open, whose inside should be pretty sharp; the top of the outside to have a socket, to put in a handle: then a number of people on horseback to go in quest of a herd of buffaloes, and always attack them with the wind in their backs. As soon as they smell a man, it is true, they run away; but at the sight of the horses they will moderate their fears, and thus not precipitate their flight; whereas the report of a gun frightens them so as to make them run at full speed. In this chace, the lightest would run fast enough; but the oldest, and even the young of two or three years old, are so fat, that their weight would make them soon be overtaken: then the armed hunter may strike the buffalo with his crescent above each ham, and cut his tendons; after which he is easily mastered. Such as never saw a buffalo, will hardly believe the quantity of fat they yield: but it ought to be considered, that, continuing day and night in plentiful pastures of the finest and most delicious grass, they must soon fatten, and that from their youth. Of this we have an instance in a bull at the Natchez, which was kept till he was two years old, and grew so fat, that he could not leap on a cow, from his great weight; so that we were obliged to kill him, and got nigh an hundred and fifty pounds of tallow from him. His neck was near as big as his body.

From what I have said, it may be judged what profit such hunters might make of the skins and tallow of those buffaloes;

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the hides would be large, and their wool would be still an additional benefit. I may add, that this hunting of them would not diminish the species, those fat buffaloes being ordinarily the prey of wolves, as being too heavy to be able to defend themselves.

Besides, the wolves would not find their account in attacking them in herds. It is well known that the buffaloes range themselves in a ring, the strongest without, and the weakest within. The strong standing pretty close together, present their horns to the enemy, who dare not attack them in this disposition. But wolves, like all other animals, have their particular instinct, in order to procure their necessary food. They come so near that the buffaloes smell them some way off, which makes them run for it. The wolves then advance with a pretty equal pace, till they observe the fattest out of breath. These they attack before and behind; one of them seizes on the buffalo by the hind-quarter, and overturns him, the others strangle him.

The wolves being many in a body, kill not what is sufficient for one alone, but as many as they can, before they begin to eat. For this is the manner of the wolf, to kill ten or twenty times more than he needs, especially when he can do it with ease, and without interruption.

Though the country I describe has very extensive plains, I pretend not to say that there are no rising grounds or hills; but they are more rare there than elsewhere, especially on the west side. In approaching to New Mexico we observe great hills and mountains, some of which are pretty high.

I ought not to omit mentioning here, that from the low lands of Louisiana, the Missisippi has several shoal banks of sand in it, which appear very dry upon the falling of the waters, after the inundations. These banks extend more or less in length; some of them half a league, and not without a considerable breadth. I have seen the Natchez, and other Indians, sow a sort of grain, which they called Choupichoul, on these dry sand-banks. This sand received no manner of culture; and the women and children covered the grain any how with their feet, without taking any great pains about it. After this sowing,

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and manner of culture, they waited till autumn, when they gathered a great quantity of the grain. It was prepared like millet, and very good to eat. This plant is what is called Belle Dame Sauvage, [He seems to mean Buck- wheat.] which thrives in all countries, but requires a good soil: and whatever good quality the soil in Europe may have, it shoots but a foot and a half high; and yet, on this sand of the Missisippi, it rises, without any culture, three feet and a half, and four feet high. Such is the virtue of this sand all up the Missisippi; or, to speak more properly, for the whole length of its course; if we except the accumulated earth of the Lower Louisiana, across which it passes, and where it cannot leave any dry sand-banks; because it is straitened within its banks, which the river itself raises, and continually augments.

In all the groves and little forests I have mentioned, and which lie to the north of the Arkansas, pheasants, partridges, snipes, and woodcocks, are in such great numbers, that those who are most fond of this game, might easily satisfy their longing, as also every other species of game. Small birds are still vastly more numerous.

Thirty leagues above the river of the Arkansas, to the north, and on the same side of the Missisippi, we find the river St. Francis.

The lands adjoining to it are always covered with herds of buffaloes, nothwithstanding they are hunted every winter in those parts: for it is to this river, that is, in its neighbourhood, that the French and Canadians go and make their salt provisions for the inhabitants of the capital, and of the neighbouring

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plantations, in which they are assisted by the native Arkansas, whom they hire for that purpose. When they are upon the spot, they chuse a tree fit to make a pettyaugre, which serves for a salting or powdering-tub in the middle, and is closed at the two ends, where only is left room for a man at each extremity.

The trees they choose are ordinarily the poplar, which grow on the banks of the water. It is a white wood, soft and binding. The pettyaugres might be made of other wood, be cause such are to be had pretty large; but either too heavy for pettyaugres, or too apt to split.

The species of wood in this part of Louisiana is tall oak; the fields abound with four sorts of walnut, especially the black kind; so called, because it is of a dark brown colour, bordering on black; this sort grows very large.

There are besides fruit trees in this country, and it is there we begin to find commonly Papaws. We have also here other trees of every species, more or less, according as the soil is favourable. These lands in general are fit to produce every thing the low lands can yield, except rice and indigo. But in return, wheat thrives there extremely well: the vine is found every where; the mulberry-tree is in plenty; tobacco grows fine, and of a good quality; as do cotton and garden plants: so that by leading an easy and agreeable life in that country, we may at the same time be sure of a good return to France.

The land which lies between the Missisippi and the river St. Francis, is full of rising grounds, and mountains of a middling height, which, according to the ordinary indications, contain several mines: some of them have been assayed; among the rest, the mine of Marameg, on the little river of that name; the other mines appear not to be so rich, nor so easy to be worked. There are some lead mines, and others of copper, as is pretended.

The mine of Marameg, which is silver, is pretty near the confluence of the river which gives it name; which is a great advantage to those who would work it, because they might

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easily by that means have their goods from Europe. It is situate about five hundred leagues from the sea.

I shall continue on the west side of the Missisippi, and to the north of the famous river of Missouri, which we are now to cross. This river takes its rise at eight hundred leagues distance, as is alledged, from the place where it discharges itself into the Missisippi. Its waters are muddy, thick, and charged with nitre; and these are the waters that make the Missisippi muddy down to the sea, its waters being extremely clear above the confluence of the Missouri: the reason is, that the former rolls its waters over a sand and pretty firm soil; the latter, on the contrary, flows across rich and clayey lands, where little stone is to be seen; for though the Missouri comes out of a mountain, which lies to the north-west of New Mexico, we are told, that all the lands it passes through are generally rich; that is, low meadows, and lands without stone.

This great river, which seems ready to dispute the pre-eminence with the Missisippi, receives in its long course many rivers and brooks, which considerably augment its waters. But except those that have received their names from some nation of Indians who inhabit their banks, there are very few of their names we can be well assured of, each traveller giving them different appellations. The French having penetrated up the Missouri only for about three hundred leagues at most, and the rivers which fall into its bed being only known by the Indians, it is of little importance what names they may bear at present, being besides in a country but little frequented. The river which is the best known is that of the Osages, so called from a nation of that name, dwelling on its banks. It falls into the Missouri, pretty near its confluence.

The largest known river which falls into the Missouri, is that of the Canzas; which runs for near two hundred leagues in a very fine country. According to what I have been able to learn about the course of this great river, from its source to the Canzas, it runs from west to east; and from that nation it falls down to the southward, where it receives the river of the Canzas, which comes from the west; there it forms a great elbow, which terminates in the neighbourhood of the Missouri;

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then it resumes its course to the south-east, to lose at last both its name and waters in the Missisippi, about f our leagues lower down than the river of the Illinois.

There was a French Post for some time in an island a few leagues in length, overagainst the Missouris; the French settled in this fort at the east-point, and called it Fort Orleans. M. de Bourgmont commanded there a sufficient time to gain the friendship of the Indians of the countries adjoining to this great river. He brought about a peace among all those nations, who before his arrival were all at war; the nations to the north being more war-like than those to the south.

After the departure of that commandant, they murdered all the garrison, not a single Frenchman having escaped to carry the news: nor could it be ever known whether it happened through the fault of the French, or through treachery.

As to the nature of that country, I refer to M. de Bourgmont's Journal, an extract from which I have given above. That is an original account, signed by all the officers, and several others of the company, which I thought was too prolix to give at full length, and for that reason I have only extracted from it what relates to the people and the quality of the soil, and traced out the route to those who have a mind to make that journey; and even this we found necessary to abridge in this translation.

In this journey of M. de Bourgmont, mention is only made of what we meet with from Fort Orleans, from which we set out, in order to go to the Padoucas: wherefore I ought to speak of a thing curious enough to be related, and which is found on the banks of the Missouri; and that is, a pretty high cliff, upright from the edge of the water. From the middle of this cliff juts out a mass of red stone with white spots, like porphyry, with this difference, that what we are speaking of is almost soft and tender, like sand-stone. It is covered with another sort of stone of no value; the bottom is an earth, like that on other rising grounds. This stone is easily worked, and bears the most violent fire. The Indians of the country have contrived to strike off pieces thereof with their arrows,

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and after they fall in the water plunge for them. When they can procure pieces thereof large enough to make pipes, they fashion them with knives and awls. This pipe has a socket two or three inches long, and on the opposite side the figure of a hatchet; in the middle of all is the boot, or bowl of the pipe, to put the tobacco in. These sort of pipes are highly esteemed among them.

All to the north of the Missouri is entirely unknown, unless we give credit to the relations of different travellers; but to which of them shall we give the preference? In the first place, they almost all contradict each other: and then, men of the most experience treat them as impostors; and therefore I choose to pay no regard to any of them.

Let us therefore now repass the Missisippi, in order to resume the description of the lands to the east, and which we quitted at the river Wabache. This river is distant from the sea four hundred and sixty (three hundred) leagues; it is reckoned to have four hundred leagues in length, from its source to its confluence into the Missisippi. It is called Wabache, though, according to the usual method, it ought to be called the Ohio, or Beautiful River; seeing the Ohio is known under that name in Canada, before its confluence was known: and as the Ohio takes its rise at a greater distance off than the three others, which mix together, before they empty themselves into the Missisippi, this should make the others lose their names; but custom has prevailed on the occasion. [But not among the English; we call it the Ohio.] The first river known to us, which falls into the Ohio, is that of the Miamis, which takes its rise towards lake Erie.

It is by this river of the Miamis that the Canadians come to Louisiana. For this purpose they embark on the river St. Laurence, go up this river, pass the cataracts quite to the bottom of Lake Erie, where they find a small river, on which they also go up to a place called the Carriage of the Miamis; because that people come and take their effects, and carry them on their backs for two leagues from thence to the banks of the river of their name, which I just said empties itself into

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the Ohio. From thence the Canadians go down that river, enter the Wabache, and at last the Missisippi, which brings them to New Orleans, the capital of Louisiana. They reckon eighteen hundred leagues [It is but nine hundred leagues.] from the capital of Canada to that of Louisiana, on account of the great turns and windings they are obliged to take.

The river of the Miamis is thus the first to the north, which falls into the Ohio; then that of the Chaouanons to the south; and lastly, that of the Cherakees; all which together empty themselves into the Missisippi. This is what we call the Wabache, and what in Canada and New England they call the Ohio. This river is beautiful, greatly abounding in fish, and navigable almost up to its source.

To the north of this river lies Canada, which inclines more to the east than the source of the Ohio, and extends to the country of the Illinois. It is of little importance to dispute here about the limits of these two neighbouring colonies, as they both appertain to France. The lands of the Illinois are reputed to be a part of Louisiana; we have there a post near a village of that nation, called Tamaroueas.

The country of the Illinois is extremely good, and abounds with buffalo and other game. On the north of the Wabache we begin to see the Orignaux; a species of animals which are said to partake of the buffalo and the stag; they have, indeed, been described to me to be much more clumsy than the stag. Their horns have something of the stag, but are shorter and more massy; the meat of them, as they say, is pretty good. Swans and other water-fowl are common in these countries.

The French Post of the Illinois is, of all the colony, that in which with the greatest ease they grow wheat, rye, and other like grain, for the sowing of which you need only to turn the earth in the slightest manner; that slight culture is sufficient to make the earth produce as much as we can reasonably desire. I have been assured, that in the last war, when the flour from France was scarce, the Illinois sent down to New Orleans upwards of eight hundred thousand weight thereof in

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one winter. Tobacco also thrives there, but comes to maturity with difficulty. All the plants transported thither from France succeed well, as do also the fruits.

In those countries there is a river, which takes its name from the Illinois. It was by this river that the first travellers came from Canada into the Missisippi. Such as come from Canada, and have business only on the Illinois, pass that way yet: but such as want to go directly to the sea, go down the river of the Miamis into the Wabache, or Ohio, and from thence into the Missisippi.

In this country there are mines, and one in particular, called De la Mothe's mine, which is silver, the assay of which has been made; as also of two lead-mines, so rich at first as to vegetate, or shoot a foot and a half at least out of the earth.

The whole continent north of the river of the Illinois is not much frequented, consequently little known. The great extent of Louisiana makes us presume, that these parts will not soon come to our knowledge, unless some curious person should go thither to open mines, where they are said to be in great numbers, and very rich.

In order to give an account of the several sorts of plants cultivated in Louisiana, I begin with Maiz, as being the most useful grain, seeing it is the principal food of the people of America, and that the French found it cultivated by the Indians.

Maiz, which in France we call Turkey corn, (and we Indian-corn) is a grain of the size of a pea; there is of it as large as our sugar-pea: it grows on a sort of husks, (Quenouille) in ascending rows: some of these husks have to the

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number of seven hundred grains upon them, and I have counted even to a greater number. This husk may be about two inches thick, by seven or eight inches and upwards in length: it is wrapped up in several covers or thin leaves, which screen it from the avidity of birds. Its foot or stalk is often of the same size: it has leaves about two inches and upwards broad, by two feet and a half long, which are chanelled, or formed like gutters, by which they collect the dew which dissolves at sun-rising, and trickles down to the stalk, sometimes in such plenty, as to wet the earth around them for the breadth of six or seven inches. Its flower is on the top of the stalk, which is sometimes eight feet high. We ordinarily find five or six ears on each stalk, and in order to procure a greater crop, the part of the stalk above the ears ought to be cut away.

For sowing the Maiz in a field already cleared and prepared, holes are made four feet asunder every way, observing to make the rows as straight as may be, in order to weed them the easier: into every hole five or six grains are put, which are previously to be steeped for twenty-four hours at least, to make them rise or shoot the quicker, and to prevent the fox and birds from eating such quantities of them: by day there are people to guard them against birds; by night fires are made at proper distances to frighten away the fox, who would otherwise turn up the ground, and eat the corn of all the rows, one after another, without omitting one, till he has his fill, and is therefore the most pernicious animal to this corn. The corn, as soon as shot out of the earth, is weeded: when it mounts up, and its stalks are an inch big, it is hilled, to secure it against the wind. This grain produces enough for two negroes to make fifty barrels, each weighing an hundred and fifty pounds.

Such as begin a plantation in woods, thick set with cane, have an advantage in the Maiz, that makes amends for the labour of clearing the ground; a labour always more fatiguing than cultivating a spot already cleared. The advantage is this: they begin with cutting down the canes for a great extent of ground; the trees they peel two feet high quite round: this operation is performed in the beginning of March, as then the sap is in motion in that country: about fifteen days after, the canes,

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being dry, are set on fire: the sap of the trees are thereby made to descend, and the branches are burnt, which kills the trees.

On the following day they sow the corn in the manner I have just shewn: the roots of the cane, which are not quite dead, shoot fresh canes, which are very tender and brittle; and as no other weeds grow in the field that year, it is easy to be weeded of these canes, and as much corn again may be made, as in a field already cultivated.

This grain they eat in many different ways; the most common way is to make it into Sagamity, which is a kind of gruel made with water, or strong broth. They bake bread of it like cakes (by baking it over the fire on an iron plate, or on a board before the fire,) which is much better than what they bake in the oven, at least for present use; but you must make it every day; and even then it is too heavy to soak in soup of any kind. They likewise make Parched Meal [See Book III, Chap. I.] of it, which is a dish of the natives, as well as the Cooedlou, or bread mixt with beans. The ears of corn roasted are likewise a peculiar dish of theirs; and the small corn dressed in that manner is as agreeable to us as to them. A light and black earth agrees much better with the Maiz than a strong and rich one.

The Parched Meal is the best preparation of this corn; the French like it extremely well, no less than the Indians themselves: I can affirm that it is a very good food, and at the same time the best sort of provision that can be carried on a journey, because it is refreshing and extremely nourishing.

As for the small Indian corn, you may see an account of it in the first chapter of the third Book; where you will likewise find an account of the way of sowing wheat, which if you do not observe, you may as well sow none.

Rice is sown in a soil well laboured, either by the plough or hoe, and in winter, that it may be sowed before the time of the inundation. It is sown in furrows of the breadth of a hoe: when shot, and three or four inches high, they let water into the furrows, but in a small quantity, in proportion as it grows, and then give water in greater plenty.

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The ear of this grain nearly resembles that of oats; its grains are fastened to a beard, and its chaff is very rough, and full of those fine and hard beards: the bran adheres not to the grain, as that of the corn of France; it consists of two lobes, which easily separate and loosen, and are therefore readily cleaned and broke off.

They eat their rice as they do in France, but boiled much thicker, and with much less cookery, although it is not inferior in goodness to ours: they only wash it in warm water, taken out of the same pot you are to boil it in, then throw it in all at once, and boil it till it bursts, and so it is dressed without any further trouble. They make bread of it that is very white and of a good relish; but they have tried in vain to make any that will soak in soup.

The culture of the Water-melon is simple enough. They choose for the purpose a light soil, as that of a rising ground, well exposed: they make holes in the earth, from two and a half to three feet in diameter, and distant from each other fifteen feet every way, in each of which holes they put five or six seeds. When the seeds are come up, and the young plants have struck out five or six leaves, the four most thriving plants are pitched upon, and the others plucked up to prevent their starving each other, when too numerous. It is only at that time that they have the trouble of watering them, nature alone performing the rest, and bringing them to maturity; which is known by the green rind beginning to change colour. There is no occasion to cut or prune them. The other species of melons are cultivated in the same manner, only that between the holes the distance is but five or six feet.

All sorts of garden plants and greens thrive extremely well in Louisiana, and grow in much greater abundance than in France: the climate is warmer, and the soil much better. However, it is to be observed, that onions and other bulbous plants answer not in the low lands, without a great deal of pains and labour; whereas in the high grounds they grow very large and of a fine flavour.

The inhabitants of Louisiana may very easily make Silk, having mulberries ready at hand, which grow naturally in the

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high lands, and plantations of them may be easily made. The leaves of the natural mulberries of Louisiana are what the silk-worms are very fond of; I mean the more common mulberries with a large leaf, but tender, and the fruit of the colour of Burgundy wine. The province produces also the White Mulberry, which has the same quality with the red.

I shall next relate some experiments that have been made on this subject, by people who were acquainted with it. Madam Hubert, a native of Provence, where they make a great deal of silk, which she understood the management of, was desirous of trying whether they could raise silk-worms with the mulberry leaves of this province, and what sort of silk they would afford. The first of her experiments was, to give some large silk-worms a parcel of the leaves of the Red Mulberry, and another parcel of the White Mulberry both upon the same frame. She observed the worms went over the leaves of both sorts, without shewing any greater liking to the one than to the other: then she put to the other two sorts of leaves some of the leaves of the White-sweet or Sugar-Mulberry, and she found that the worms left the other sorts to go to these, and that they preferred them to the leaves of the common Red and White Mulberry. [See an account of these different sorts of Mulberry, in the notes at the end of this Volume.]

The second experiment of Madam Hubert was, to raise and feed some silk- worms separately. To some she gave the leaves of the common White Mulberry, and to others the leaves of the White Sugar-Mulberry; in order to see the difference of the silk from the difference of their food. Moreover, she raised and fed some of the native silk-worms of the country, which were taken very young from the mulberry-trees; but she observed that these last were very flighty, and did nothing but run up and down, their nature being, without doubt, to live upon trees: she then changed their place, that they might not mix with the other worms that came from France, and gave them little branches with the leaves on them, which made them a little more settled.

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This industrious lady waited till the cocoons were perfectly made, in order to observe the difference between them in unwinding the silk; the success of which, and of all her other experiments, she was so good as to give me a particular account of. When the cocoons were ready to be wound, she took care of them herself, and found that the wild worms yielded less silk than those from France; for although they were of a larger size, they were not so well furnished with silk, which proceeded, no doubt, from their not being sufficiently nourished, by their running incessantly up and down; and accordingly she observed that they were but meagre; but notwithstanding, their silk was strong and thick, though coarse.

Those who were fed with the leaves of the Red Mulberry made cocoons well furnished with silk; which was stronger and finer than that of France. Those that were fed upon the leaves of the common White Mulberry, had the same silk with those that were fed on the leaves of the Red Mulberry. The fourth sort, again, that had been fed with the leaves of the White Sugar- Mulberry, had but little silk; it was indeed as fine as the preceding, but it was so weak and so brittle, that it was with great difficulty they could wind it.

These are the experiments of this lady on silk-worms, which every one may make his own uses of, in order to have the sorts of silk, mulberries, or worms, that are most suitable to his purpose, and most likely to turn to his account: which we are very glad of this opportunity to inform them of, that they may see how much society owes to those persons who take care to study nature, in order to promote industry and public utility.

The high lands of Louisiana produce a natural Indigo: what I saw in two or three places where I have observed it, grew at the edges of the thick woods, which shews it delights in a good, but light soil. One of these stalks was but ten or twelve inches high, its wood at least three lines in diameter, and of as

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fine a green as its leaf; it was as tender as the rib of a cabbage leaf; when its head was blown a little, the two other stalks shot in a few days, the one seventeen, the other nineteen inches high; the stem was six lines thick below, and of a very lively green, and still very tender, the lower part only began to turn brown a little; the tops of both were equally ill furnished with leaves, and without branches; which makes it to be presumed, that being so thriving and of so fine a growth, it would have shot very high, and surpass in vigour and heighth the cultivated Indigo. The stalk of the Indigo, cultivated by the French at the Natchez, turned brown before it shot eleven or twelve inches; when in seed it was five feet high and upwards, and surpassed in vigour what was cultivated in the Lower Louisiana, that is, in the quarter about New Orleans: but the natural, which I had an opportunity of seeing only young and tender, promised to become much taller and stouter than ours, and to yield more.

[image: Indigo.]

The Indigo cultivated in Louisiana comes from the islands; its grain is of the bigness of one line, and about a quarter longer, brown and hard, flatted at the extremities, because it is compressed in its pod. This grain is sown in a soil prepared like a garden, and the field where it is cultivated is called the Indigo-garden. In order to sow it, holes are made on a straight line with a small hoe, a foot asunder; in each hole four or five

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seeds are put, which are covered with earth; great care is had not to suffer any strange plants to grow near it, which would choak it; and it is sown a foot asunder, to the end it may draw the fuller nourishment, and be weeded without grazing or ruffling the leaf, which is that which gives the Indigo. When its leaf is quite come to its shape, it resembles exactly that of the Acacia, so well known in France, only that it is smaller.

It is cut with large pruning-knives, or a sort of sickles, with about six or seven inches aperture, which should be pretty strong. It ought to be cut before its wood hardens; and to be green as its leaf, which ought, however, to have a bluish eye or cast. When cut it is conveyed into the rotting-tub, as we shall presently explain. According as the soil is better or worse, it shoots higher or lower; the tuft of the first cutting, which grows round, does not exceed eight inches in heighth and breadth: the second cutting rises sometimes to a foot. In cutting the Indigo you are to set your foot upon the root, in order to prevent the pulling it out of the earth; and to be upon your guard not to cut yourself, as the tool is dangerous.

In order to make an Indigo-work, a shed is first of all to be built: this building is at least twenty feet high, without walls or flooring, but only covered. The whole is built upon posts, which may be closed with mats, if you please: this building has twenty feet in breadth, and at least thirty in length. In this shed three vats or large tubs are set in such a manner, that the water may be easily drained off from the first, which is the lowermost and smallest. The second rests with the edge of its bottom on the upper edge of the first, so that the water may easily run from it into the one below. This second vat is not broader but deeper than the first, and is called the Battery; for this reason it has its beaters, which are little buckets formed of four ends of boards, about eight inches long, which together have the figure of the hopper of a mill; a stick runs across them, which is put into a wooden fork, in order to beat the Indigo: there are two of them on each side, which in all make four.

The third vat is placed in the same manner over the second, and is as big again, that it may hold the leaves; it is called the

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Rotting-tub, because the leaves which are put into it are deadened, not corrupted or spoiled therein. The Indigo-operator, who conducts the whole work, knows when it is time to let the water into the second vat; then he lets go the cock; for if the leaves were left too long, the Indigo would be too black; it must have no more time than what is sufficient to discharge a kind of flower or froth that is found upon the leaf.

The water, when it is all in the second vat, is beat till the Indigo-operator gives orders to cease; which he does not before he has several times taken up some of this water with a silver cup, by way of assay, in order to know the exact time in which they ought to give over beating the water: and this is a secret which practice alone can teach with certainty.

When the Indigo-operator finds that the water is sufficiently beaten, he lets it settle till he can draw off the water clear; which is done by means of several cocks one above another, for fear of losing the Indigo. For this purpose, if the water is clear, the highest cock is opened, the second in like manner, till the water is observed to be tinged; then they shut the cock: the same is done in all the cocks till all the Indigo be in a pap at the bottom of the second vat. The first, or small vat, serves only to purify the water which is found to be tinged, and let run while clear.

When the Indigo is well settled, they put it in cloth bags a foot and six inches wide, with a small circle at top, which helps to receive the Indigo with ease; it is suffered to drain till it gives no more water: however, it must be moist enough to spread it in the mould with a wooden knife or spatula.

In order to have the seed, they suffer it to run up as many feet as they foresee shall be necessary for seed; it shoots four or five feet high, according to the quality of the soil. There are four cuttings of it in the islands, where the climate is warmer; three good cuttings are made in Louisiana, and of as good a quality at least as in the islands.

Tobacco, which was found among the Indians of Louisiana, seems also to be a native of the country, seeing their ancient tradition informs us, that from time immemorial they

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have, in their treaties of peace and in their embassies, used the pipe, the principal use of which is that the deputies shall all smoke therein. This native Tobacco is very large; its stalk, when suffered to run to seed, shoots to five feet and a half and six feet; the lower part of its stem is at least eighteen lines in diameter, and its leaves often near two feet long, which are thick and succulent, its juice is strong, but never disorders the head. The Tobacco of Virginia has a broader but shorter leaf; its stalk is smaller, and runs not up so high; its smell is not disagreeable, but not so strong; it takes more plants to make a pound, because its leaf is thinner, and not so full of sap as the native. What is cultivated in the Lower Louisiana is smaller, and not so strong; but that made in the islands is thinner than that of Louisiana, but much stronger, and disorders the head.

In order to sow Tobacco, you make a bed on the best piece of ground you are master of, and give it six inches in heighth; this earth you beat and make level with the back of a spade; you afterwards sow the seed, which is extremely fine, nearly resembling poppy seed. It must be sown thin, and notwithstanding that attention, it often happens to be too thick. When the seed is sown, the earth is no longer stirred, but the seed is covered with ashes the thickness of a farthing, to prevent the worms from eating the tobacco when it is just shooting out of the earth.

As soon as the tobacco has four leaves, it is transplanted into a soil prepared for it, put into holes a foot broad made in a line, and distant three feet every way; a distance not too great, in order to weed it with ease, without breaking the leaves.

The best time for transplanting it is after rain, otherwise you must water it: in like manner, when the seed is in the earth, if it rains not, you must gently sprinkle it towards evening, because it is somewhat slow in rising, and when it is sprouted it requires a little water. You must lightly cover the plant in the day time with some leaves plucked the night before; a precaution on no account to be dispensed with, till the young plant has fully struck root. You must also daily visit the

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tobacco, to clear it of caterpillars, which fasten upon it, and would entirely eat it up, if they are not destroyed. The tobacco-caterpillar is of the shape of a silk-worm, has a prickle on its back towards its extremity; its colour is of the most beautiful sea-green, striped with silver-streaks; in a word, it is as beautiful to the eye as it is fatal to the plant it is fond of.

I gave great attention to keep my plantation clear of all weeds, observing in weeding it with the hoe not to touch the stalks, about which I caused to lay new earth, as well to secure them against gusts of wind, as to enable them to draw from the earth a more abundant nourishment. When the tobacco began to put forth suckers, I plucked them off, because they would have shot into branches, which would impoverish the leaves, and for the same reason stopped the tobacco from shooting above the twelfth leaf, afterwards stripping off the four lowermost, which never come to any thing. Hitherto I did nothing but what was ordinarily done by those who cultivate tobacco with some degree of care; but my method of proceeding afterwards was different.

I saw my neighbours strip the leaves of tobacco from the stalk, string them, set them to dry, by hanging them out in the air, then put them in heaps, to make them sweat. As for me, I carefully examined the plant, and when I observed the stem begin to turn yellow here and there, I caused the stalk to be cut with a pruning-knife, and left it for some time on the earth to deaden. Afterwards it was carried off, on handbarrows, because it is thus less exposed to be broken than on the necks of negroes. When it was brought to the house, I caused it to be hung up, with the big end of the stem turned upwards, the leaves of each stalk slightly touching one another, being well assured they would shrivel in drying, and no longer touch each other. It hereby happened, that the juice contained in the pith (sometimes as big as one's finger) of the stem of the plant, flowed into the leaves, and augmenting their sap, made them much more mild and waxy. As fast as these leaves assumed a bright chesnut colour, I stripped them from the stalk, and made them directly into bundles, which I wrapped up in a cloth, and bound it close with a cord for twenty four hours;

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then undoing the cloth, they were tied up closer still. This tobacco turned black and so waxy, that it could not be rasped in less than a year; but then it had a substance and flavour so much the more agreeable, as it never affected the head; and so I sold it for double the price of the common.

The cotton which is cultivated in Louisiana, is of the species of the white Siam, [This East-India annual cotton has been found to be much better and whiter than what is cultivated in our colonies, which is of the Turkey kind. Both of them keep their colour better in washing, and are whiter than the perennial cotton that comes from the islands, although this last is of a longer staple.] though not so soft, nor so long as the silk-cotton; it is extremely white and very fine, and a very good use may be made of it. This cotton is produced, not from a tree, as in the East-Indies, but from a plant, and thrives much better in light than in strong and fat lands, such as those of the Lower Louisiana, where it is not so fine as on the high grounds.

This plant may be cultivated in lands newly cleared, and not yet proper for tobacco, much less for indigo, which requires a ground well worked like a garden. The seeds of cotton are planted three feet asunder, more or less according to the quality of the soil: the field is weeded at the proper season, in order to clear it of the noxious weeds, and fresh earth laid to the root of the plant, to secure it against the winds. The cotton requires weeding, neither so often, nor so carefully as other plants; and the care of gathering is the employment of young people, incapable of harder labour.

When the root of the cotton is once covered with fresh earth, and the weeds are removed, it is suffered to grow without further touching it, till it arrives to maturity. Then its heads or pods open into five parts, and expose their cotton to view. When the sun has dried the cotton well, it is gathered in a proper manner, and conveyed into the conservatory; after which comes on the greatest task, which is to separate it from the grain or seed to which it closely adheres; and it is this part of the work, which disgusts the inhabitants in the cultivation

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of it. I contrived a mill for the purpose, tried it, and found it to succeed, so as to dispatch the work very much.

[image: Top: Cotton on the stalk--Bottom: Rice on the stalk]

The culture of indigo, tobacco, and cotton, may be easily carried on without any interruption to the making of silk, as any one of these is no manner of hindrance to the other. In the first place, the work about these three plants does not come on till after the worms have spun their silk: in the second place,

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the feeding and cleaning the silk-worm requires no great degree of strength; and thus the care employed about them interrupts no other sort of work, either as to time, or as to the persons employed therein. It suffices for this operation to have a person who knows how to feed and clean the worms; young negroes of both sexes might assist this person, little skill sufficing for this purpose: the oldest of the young negroes, when taught, might shift the worms and lay the leaves; the other young negroes gather and fetch them; and all this labour, which takes not up the whole day, lasts only for about six weeks. It appears therefore, that the profit made of the silk is an additional benefit, so much the more profitable, as it diverts not the workmen from their ordinary tasks. If it be objected, that buildings are requisite to make silk to advantage; I answer, buildings for the purpose cost very little in a country where wood may be had for taking; I add farther, that these buildings may be made and daubed with mud by any persons about the family; and besides, may serve for hanging tobacco in, two months after the silk-worms are gone.

I own I have not seen the wax-tree cultivated in Louisiana; people content themselves to take the berries of this tree, without being at pains to rear it; but as I am persuaded it would be very advantageous to make plantations of it, I shall give my sentiments on the culture proper for this tree, after the experiments I made in regard to it.

I had some seeds of the wax-tree brought me to Fontenai le Comte, in Poictou, some of which I gave to several of my friends, but not one of them came up. I began to reflect, that Poictou not being by far so warm as Louisiana, these seeds would have difficulty to shoot; I therefore thought it was necessary to supply by art the defect of nature; I procured horse, cow, sheep, and pigeon's dung in equal quantity, all which I put in a vessel of proportionable size, and poured on them water, almost boiling, in order to dissolve their salts: this water I drew off, and steeped the grains in a sufficient quantity thereof for forty-eight hours; after which I sowed them in a box full of good earth; seven of them came up, and made shoots between seven and eight inches high, but they were all

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killed by the frost for want of putting them into the greenhouse.

This seed having such difficulty to come up, I presume that the wax, in which it is wrapped up, hinders the moisture from penetrating into, and making its kernel shoot; and there fore I should think that those who choose to sow it, would do well if they previously rolled it lightly between two small boards just rough from the saw; this friction would cause the pellicle of wax to scale off with so much the greater facility, as it is naturally very dry; and then it might be put to steep.

Hops grow naturally in Louisiana, yet such as have a desire to make use of them for themselves, or sell them to brewers, cultivate this plant. It is planted in alleys, distant asunder six feet, in holes two feet and one foot deep, in which the root is lodged. When shot a good deal, a pole of the size of one's arm, and between twelve and fifteen feet long, is fixed in the hole; care is had to direct the shoots towards it, which fail not to run up the pole. When the flower is ripe and yellowish, the stem is cut quite close to the earth and the pole pulled out, in order to pick the flowers, which are saved.

If we consider the climate of Louisiana, and the quality of the high lands of that province, we might easily produce saffron there. The culture of this plant would be so much the more advantageous to the planters, as the neighbourhood of Mexico would procure a quick and useful vent for it.

I have often reflected on the happiness of France in the portion which Providence has allotted her in America. She has found in her lands neither the gold nor silver of Mexico and Peru, nor the precious stones and rich stuffs of the East-Indies; but she will find therein, when she pleases, mines of iron, lead, and copper. She is there possessed of a fertile soil,

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which only requires to be occupied in order to produce not only all the fruits necessary and agreeable to life, but also all the subjects on which human industry may exercise itself in order to supply our wants. What I have already said of Louisiana ought to make this very plain; but to bring the whole together, in order, and under one point of view, I shall next relate every thing that regards the commerce of this province.

Commodities which Louisiana may furnish in return for those of Europe.

France might draw from this colony several sorts of furs, which would not be without their value, though held cheap in France; and by their variety, and the use that might be made of them, would yield satisfaction. Some persons have dissuaded the traders from taking any furs from the Indians, on a supposition that they would be moth-eaten when carried to New- Orleans, on account of the heat of the climate: but I am acquainted with people of the business, who know how to preserve them from such an accident.

Dry buffalo hides are of sufficient value to encourage the Indians to procure them, especially if they were told, that only their skins and tallow were wanted; they would then kill the old bulls, which are so fat as scarce to be able to go: each buffalo would yield at least a hundred pounds of tallow; the value of which, with the skin, would make it worth their while to kill them, and thus none of our money would be sent to Ireland in order to have tallow from that country; besides the species of buffaloes would not be diminished, because these fat buffaloes are always the prey of wolves.

Deer-skins, which were bought of the Indians at first, did not please the manufacturers of Niort, where they are dressed, because the Indians altered the quality by their way of dressing them; but since these skins have been called for without any preparation but taking off the hair, they make more of them, and sell them cheaper than before.

The wax-tree produces wax, which being much drier than bees-wax, may bear mixture, which will not hinder its lasting longer than bees-wax. Some of this wax was sent to Paris to

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a factor of Louisiana, who set so low a price upon it as to discourage the planters from sowing any more. The sordid avarice of this factor has done a service to the islands, where it gives a higher price than that of France.

The islands also draw timber for building from Louisiana, which might in time prevent France from making her profits of the beauty, goodness, and quantity of wood of this province. The quality of the timber is a great inducement to build docks there for the construction of ships: the wood might be had at a low price of the inhabitants, because they would get it in winter, which is almost an idle time with them. This labour would also clear the grounds, and so this timber might be had almost for nothing. Masts might be also had in the country, on account of the number of pines which the coast produces; and for the same reason pitch and tar would be common. For the planks of ships, there is no want of oak; but might not very good one be made of cypress? this wood is, indeed, softer than oak, but endowed with qualities surpassing this last: it is light, not apt to split or warp, is supple and easily worked; in a word, it is incorruptible both in air and water; and thus making the planks stouter than ordinary, there would be no inconvenience from the use of cypress. I have observed, that this wood is not injured by the worm, and ship-worms might perhaps have the same aversion to it as other worms have.

Other wood fit for the building of ships is very common in this country; such as elm, ash, alder, and others. There are likewise in this country several species of wood, which might sell in France for joiners work and fineering, as the cedar, the black walnut, and the cotton-tree. Nothing more would therefore be wanting for compleating ships but cordage and iron. As to hemp, it grows so strong as to be much fitter for making cables than cloth. The iron might be brought from France, as also sails; however, there needs only to open the iron mine at the cliffs of the Chicasaws, called Prud'homme, to set up forges, and iron will be readily had. The king, therefore, might cause all sorts of shipping to be built there at so small a charge, that a moderate expence would procure a numerous fleet. If the English build ships in their colonies

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from which they draw great advantages, why might not we do the same in Louisiana?

France fetches a great deal of saltpetre from Holland and Italy; she may draw from Louisiana more than she will have occasion for, if once she sets about it. The great fertility of the country is an evident proof thereof, confirmed by the avidity of cloven-footed animals to lick the earth, in all places where the torrents have broke it up: it is well known how fond these creatures are of salt. Saltpetre might be made there with all the ease imaginable, on account of the plenty of wood and water; it would besides be much more pure than what is commonly had, the earth not being fouled with dunghills; and on the other hand, it would not be dearer than what is now purchased by France in other places.

What commerce might not be made with Silk? The silk-worms might be reared with much greater success in this country than in France, as appears from the trials that have been made, and which I have above related.

The lands of Louisiana are very proper for the culture of Saffron, and the climate would contribute to produce it in great abundance; and, what would still be a considerable advantage, the Spaniards of Mexico, who consume a great deal of it, would enhance its price.

I have spoken of Hemp, in respect to the building of ships: but such as might be built there, would never be sufficient to employ all the hemp which might be raised in that colony, did the inhabitants cultivate as much of it as they well might. But you will say, Why do they not? My answer is, the inhabitants of this colony only follow the beaten track they have got into: but if they saw an intelligent person sow hemp without any great expence or labour, as the soil is very fit for it; if, I say, they saw that it thrives without weeding; that in the winter evenings the negroes and their children can peel it; in a word, if they saw that there is good profit to be had by the sale of it; they then would all make hemp. They think and act in the same manner as to all the other articles of culture in this country.

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Cotton is also a good commodity for commerce; and the culture of it is attended with no difficulty. The only impediment to the culture of it in a greater quantity, is the difficulty of separating it from the seed. However, if they had mills, which would do this work with greater dispatch, the profit would considerably increase.

The Indigo of Louisiana, according to intelligent merchants, is as good as that of the islands; and has even more of the copper colour. As it thrives extremely well, and yields more herb than in the islands, as much Indigo may be made as there, though they have four cuttings, and only three in Louisiana. The climate is warmer in the islands, and therefore they make four gatherings; but the soil is drier, and produces not so much as Louisiana: so that the three cuttings of this last are as good as the four cuttings in the islands.

The Tobacco of this colony is so excellent, that if the commerce thereof was free, it would sell for one hundred sols and six livres the pound, so fine and delicate is its juice and flavour. Rice may also form a fine branch of trade. We go to the East-Indies for the rice we consume in France; and why should we draw from foreign countries, what we may have of our own countrymen? We should have it at less trouble, and with more security. Besides, as sometimes, perhaps too often, years of scarcity happen, we might always depend upon finding rice in Louisiana, because it is not subject to fail, an advantage which few provinces enjoy.

We may add to this commerce some drugs, used in medicine and dying. As to the first, Louisiana produces Sassafras, Sarsaparilla, Esquine, but above all the excellent balm of Copalm (Sweet-gum) the virtues of which, if well known, would save the life of many a person. This colony also furnishes us with bears oil, which is excellent in all rheumatic pains. For dying, I find only the wood Ayac, or Stinking Wood, for yellow; and the Achetchi for red; of the beauty of which colours we shall give an account in the third book.

Such are the commodities which may form a commerce of this colony with France, which last may carry in exchange all

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sorts of European goods and merchandize; the vent whereof is certain, as every thing answers there, where luxury reigns equally as in France. Flour, wines, and strong liquors sell well; and though I have spoken of the manner of growing wheat in this country, the inhabitants, towards the lower part of the river especially, will never grow it, any more than they will cultivate the vine, because in these sorts of work a negro will not earn his master half as much as in cultivating Tobacco; which, however, is less profitable than Indigo.

The Commerce of Louisiana with the Islands.

From Louisiana to the Islands they carry cypress wood squared for building, of different scantlings: sometimes they transport houses, all framed and marked out, ready to set up, on landing at their place of destination.

Bricks, which cost fourteen or fifteen livres the thousand, delivered on board the ship.

Tiles for covering houses and sheds, of the same price.

Apalachean beans, (Garavanzas) worth ten livres the barrel, of two hundred weight.

Maiz, or Indian corn.

Cypress plank of ten or twelve feet.

Red peas, which cost in the country twelve or thirteen livres the barrel.

Cleaned rice, which costs twenty livres the barrel, of two hundred weight.

There is a great profit to be made in the islands, by carrying thither the goods I have just mentioned: this profit is generally cent. per cent. in returns. The shipping which go from the colony bring back sugar, coffee, rum, which the negroes consume in drink; besides other goods for the use of the country.

The ships which come from France to Louisiana put all in at Cape Francois. Sometimes there are ships, which not having a lading for France, because they may have been paid in money or bills of exchange, are obliged to return by Cape Francois, in order to take in their cargo for France.

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The Commerce with the Spaniards.

The commodities which suit the Spaniards are sufficiently known by traders, and therefore it is not necessary to give an account of them: I have likewise forebore to give the particulars of the commodities which they carry to this colony, though I know them all: that is not our present business. I shall only apprise such as shall settle in Louisiana, in order to traffick with the Spaniards, that it is not sufficient to be furnished with the principal commodities which suit their commerce, but they should, besides, know how to make the proper assortments; which are most advantageous to us, as well as to them, when they carry them to Mexico.

The Commodities which the Spaniards bring to Louisiana, if there is a demand for them.

Campeachy wood, which is generally worth from ten to fifteen livres the hundred weight.

Brasil wood, which has a quality superior to that of Campeachy.

Very good Cacoa, which is to be met with in all the ports of Spain, worth between eighteen and twenty livres the quintal, or hundred weight.

Cochineal, which comes from Vera Cruz: there is no difficulty to have as much of it as one can desire, because so near; it is worth fifteen livres the pound: there is an inferior sort, called Sylvester.

Tortoise-shell, which is common in the Spanish islands, is worth seven or eight livres the pound.

Tanned leather, of which they have great quantities; that marked or stamped is worth four livres ten sols the levee.

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Marroquin, or Spanish leather, of which they have great quantities, and cheap.

Turned calf, which is also cheap.

Indigo, which is manufactured at Guatimala, is worth three or four livres the pound: there is of it of a perfect good quality, and therefore sells at twelve livres the pound.

Sarsaparilla, which they have in very great quantities, and sell at thirteen or fifteen sols.

Havanna snuff, which is of different prices and qualities: I have seen it at three shillings the pound, which in our money make thirty-seven sols six deniers.

Vanilla, which is of different prices. They have many other things very cheap, on which great profits might be made, and for which an easy vent may be found in Europe; especially for their drugs: but a particular detail would carry me too far, and make me lose sight of the object I had in view.

What I have just said of the commerce of Louisiana, may easily shew that it will necessarily encrease in proportion as the country is peopled; and industry also will be brought to perfection. For this purpose nothing more is requisite than some inventive and industrious geniuses, who coming from Europe, may discover such objects of commerce as may turn to account. I imagine a good tanner might in this colony tan the leather of the country, and cheaper than in France; I even imagine that the leather might there be brought to its perfection in less time; and what makes me think so, is, that I have heard it averred, that the Spanish leather is extremely good, and is never above three or four months in the tan-pit.

The same will hold of many other things, which would prevent money going out of the kingdom to foreign countries. Would it not be more suitable and more useful, to devise means of drawing the same commodities from our own colonies? As these means are so easy, at least money would not go out of our hands; France and her colonies would be as two families who traffick together, and render each other mutual service. Besides, there would not be occasion for so much money to carry on a commerce to Louisiana, seeing the inhabitants have need of European goods. It would therefore be a commerce

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very different from that which, without exporting the merchandise of the kingdom, exports the money; a commerce still very different from that which carries to France commodities highly prejudicial to our own manufactures.

I may add to all that I have said on Louisiana, as one of the great advantages of this country, that women are very fruitful in it, which they attribute to the waters of the Missisippi. Had the intentions of the Company been pursued, and their orders executed, there is no doubt but this colony had at this day been very strong, and blessed with a numerous young progeny, whom no other climate would allure to go and settle in; but being retained by the beauty of their own, they would improve its riches, and multiplied anew in a short time, could offer their mother-country succours in men and ships, and in many other things that are not to be contemned.

I cannot too much shew the importance of the succours in corn, which this colony might furnish in a time of scarcity. In a bad year we are obliged to carry our money to foreigners for corn, which has been oftentimes purchased in France, because they have had the secret of preserving their corn; but if the colony of Louisiana was once well settled, what supplies of corn might not be received from that fruitful country? I shall give two reasons which will confirm my opinion.

The first is, That the inhabitants always grow more corn than is necessary for the subsistence of themselves, their workmen, and slaves. I own, that in the lower part of the colony only rice could be had, but this is always a great supply. Now, were the colony gradually settled to the Arkansas, they would grow wheat and rye in as great quantities as one could well desire, which would be of great service to France, when her crops happen to fail.

The second reason is, That in this colony a scarcity is never to be apprehended. On my arrival in it, I informed myself of what had happened therein from 1700, and I myself remained in it till 1734; and since my return to France I have had accounts from it down to this present year 1757; and from these accounts I can aver, that no intemperature of season has caused

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any scarcity since the beginning of this century. I was witness to one of the severest winters that had been known in that country in the memory of the oldest people living; but provisions were then not dearer than in other years. The soil of this province being excellent, and the seasons always suitable, the provisions and other commodities cultivated in it never fail to thrive surprizingly.

One will, perhaps, be surprized to hear me promise such fine things of a country which has been reckoned to be so much inferior to the Spanish or Portuguese colonies in America; but such as will take the trouble to reflect on that which constitutes the genuine strength of states, and the real goodness of a country, will soon alter their opinion, and agree with me, that a country fertile in men, in productions of the earth, and in necessary metals, is infinitely preferable to countries from which men draw gold, silver, and diamonds: the first effect of which is to pamper luxury and render the people indolent; and the second to stir up the avarice of neighbouring nations. I therefore boldly aver, that Louisiana, well governed, would not long fail to fulfil all I have advanced about it; for though there are still some nations of Indians who might prove enemies to the French, the settlers, by their martial character, and their zeal for their king and country, aided by a few troops, commanded, above all, by good officers, who at the same time know how to command the colonists: the settlers, I say, will be always match enough for them, and prevent any foreigners whatever from invading the country. What would therefore be the consequence if, as I have projected, the first nation that should become our enemy were attacked in the manner I have laid down in my reflections on an Indian war? They would be directly brought to such a pass as to make all other nations tremble at the very name of the French, and to be ever cautious of making war upon them. Not to mention the advantage there is in carrying on wars in this manner; for as they cost little, as little do they hazard the loss of lives.

In 1734, M. Perier, Governor of Louisiana, was relieved by M. de Biainville, and the King's plantation put on a new footing, by an arrangement suitable to the notions of the person

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who advised it. A sycophant, who wanted to make his court to Cardinal Fleury, would persuade that minister, that the plantation cost his Majesty ten thousand livres a year, and that this sum might be well saved; but took care not to tell his Eminence, that for these ten thousand it saved at least fifty thousand livres.

Upon this, my place of Director of the public plantations was abolished, and I at length resolved to quit the colony and return to France, nothwithstanding all the fair promises and warm solicitations of my superiors to prevail upon me to stay. A King's ship, La Gironde, being ready to sail, I went down the river in her to Balise, and from thence we set sail, on the 10th of May, 1734. We had tolerable fine weather to the mouth of the Bahama Streights; afterwards we had the wind contrary, which retarded our voyage for a week about the banks of Newfoundland, to which we were obliged to stretch for a wind to carry us to France: from thence we made the passage without any cross accident, and happily arrived in the road of Chaidbois before Rochelle, on the 25th of June following, which made it a passage of forty-five days from Louisiana to France.

Some Abstracts from the Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, by M. Du Mont.

I. Of Tobacco, with the way of cultivating and curing it.

The lands of Louisiana are as proper as could be desired, for the culture of tobacco; and, without despising what is made in other countries, we may affirm that the tobacco which grows in the country of the Natchez, is even preferable to that of Virginia or St. Domingo; I say, in the country of the Natchez, because the soil at that post appears to be more suitable to this plant than any other: although it must be owned, that there is but very little difference betwixt the tobacco which grows there and in some other parts of the colony, as at the Cut-point, at the Nachitoches, and even at New Orleans; but whether it is owing to the exposure, or to the goodness of

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the soil, it is allowed that the tobacco of the Natchez and Yasous is preferable to the rest.

The way of planting and curing tobacco in this country, is as follows: they sow it on beds well worked with the hoe or spade in the months of December, January, or February; and because the seed is very small, they mix it with ashes, that it may be thinner sowed: then they rake the beds, and trample them with their feet, or clap them with a plank, that the seed may take sooner in the ground. The tobacco does not come up till a month afterwards, or even for a longer time; and then they ought to take great care to cover the beds with straw or cypress-bark, to preserve the plants from the white frosts, that are very common in that season. There are two sorts of tobacco; the one with a long and sharp-pointed leaf, the other has a round and hairy leaf; which last they reckon the best sort.

At the end of April, and about St. George's day, the plants have about four leaves, and then they pull the best and strongest of them: these they plant out on their tobacco-ground by a line stretched across it, and at three feet distance one from another: this they do either with a planting- stick, or with their finger, leaving a hole on one side of the plant, to receive the water, with which they ought to water it. The tobacco being thus planted, it should be looked over evening and morning, in order to destroy a black worm, which eats the bud of the plant, and afterwards buries itself in the ground. If any of the plants are eat by this worm, you must set another one by it. You must choose a rainy season to plant your tobacco, and you should water it three times to make it take root. But they never work their ground in this country to plant their tobacco; they reckon it sufficient to stir it a little about four inches square round the plant.

When the tobacco is about four or five inches high, they weed it, and clean the ground all about it, and hill up every plant. They do the same again, when it is about a foot and a half high. And when the plant has, about eight or nine leaves, and is ready to put forth a stalk, they nip off the top, which they call topping the tobacco: this amputation makes the

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leaves grow longer and thicker. After this, you must look over every plant, and every leaf, in order to sucker it, or to pull off the buds, which grow at the joints of the leaves; and at the same time you must destroy the large green worms that are found on the tobacco, which are often as large as a man's finger, and would eat up the whole plant in a night's time.

After this, you must take care to have ready a hanger (or tobacco-house,) which in Louisiana they make in the following manner: they set several posts in the ground, at equal distances from one another, and lay a beam or plate on the top of them, making thus the form of a house of an oblong square. In the middle of this square they set up two forks, about one third higher than the posts, and lay a pole cross them, for the ridge-pole of the building; upon which they nail the rafters, and cover them with cypress-bark, or palmetto-leaves. The first settlers likewise build their dwelling-houses in this manner, which answer the purpose very well, and as well as the houses which their carpenters build for them, especially for the curing of tobacco; which they hang in these houses upon sticks or canes, laid across the building, and about four feet and a half asunder, one above another.

The tobacco-house being ready, you wait till your tobacco is ripe, and fit to be cut; which you may know by the leaves being brittle, and easily broke between the fingers, especially in the morning before sun-rising; but those versed in it know when the tobacco is fit to cut by the looks of it, and at first sight. You cut your tobacco with a knife as nigh the ground as you can, after which you lay it upon the ground for some time, that the leaves may fall, or grow tender, and not break in carrying. When you carry your tobacco to the house, you hang it first at the top by pairs, or two plants together, thus continuing from story to story, taking care that the plants thus hung are about two inches asunder, and that they do not touch one another, lest they should rot. In this manner they fill their whole house with tobacco, and leave it to sweat and dry.

After the tobacco is cut, they weed and clean the ground on which it grew: each root then puts out several suckers, which are all pulled off, and only one of the best is left to

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grow, of which the same care is taken as of the first crop. By this means a second crop is made on the same ground, and sometimes a third. These seconds, indeed, as they are called, do not usually grow so high as the first plant, but notwithstanding they make very good tobacco. [This is an advantage that they have in Louisiana over our tobacco planters, who are prohibited by law to cultivate these seconds; the summers are so short, that they do not come to due maturity in our tobacco colonies; whereas in Louisiana the summers are two or three months longer, by which they make two or three crops of tobacco a year upon the same ground, as early as we make one. Add to this, their fresh lands will produce three times as much of that commodity, as our old plantations; which are now worn out with culture, by supplying the whole world almost with tobacco for a hundred and fifty years. Now if their tobacco is worth five and six shillings a pound, as we are told above, or even the tenth part of it, when ours is worth but two pence or three pence, and they give a bounty upon ships going to the Missisippi, when our tobacco is loaded with a duty equal to seven times its prime cost; they may, with all these advantages, soon get this trade from us, the, only one this nation has left entire to itself. These advantages enable the planters to give a much better price for servants and slaves, and thereby to engross the trade. It was by these means, that the French got the sugar trade from us, after the treaty of Utrecht, by being allowed to transport their people from St. Christopher's to the rich and fresh lands of St. Domingo; and by removing from Canada to Louisiana, they may in the like manner get not only this, but every other branch of the trade of North America.]

If you have a mind to make your tobacco into rolls, there is no occasion to wait till the leaves are perfectly dry; but as soon as they have acquired a yellowish brown colour, although the stem is green, you unhang your tobacco, and strip the leaves from the stalks, lay them up in heaps, and cover them with woolen cloths, in order to sweat them. After that you stem the tobacco, or pull out the middle rib of the leaf, which you throw away with the stalks, as good for nothing; laying by the longest and largest of the leaves, that are of a good blackish brown colour, and keep them for a covering for your rolls. After this you take a piece of coarse linen, at least eight inches broad and a foot long, which you spread on the ground, and on it lay the large leaves you have picked out, and the others over them in handfuls, taking care always to have more in the middle than at the ends: then you roll the

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tobacco up in the cloth, tying it in the middle and at each end. When you have made a sufficient number of these bundles, the negroes roll them up as hard as they can with a cord about as big as the little finger, which is commonly about fifteen or sixteen fathom long: you tighten them three times, so as to make them as hard as possible; and to keep them so, you might tie them up with a string.

But since the time of the West India company, we have seldom cured our tobacco in this manner, if it is not for our own use; we now cure it in hands, or bundles of the leaves, which they pack in hogsheads, and deliver it thus in France to the farmers general. In order to cure the tobacco in this manner, they wait till the leaves of the stem are perfectly dry, and in moist, giving weather, they strip the leaves from the stalk, till they have a handful of them, called a hand, or bundle of tobacco, which they tie up with another leaf. These bundles they lay in heaps, in order to sweat them, for which purpose they cover those heaps with blankets, and lay boards or planks over them. But you should take care that the tobacco is not over-heated, and does not take fire, which may easily happen; for which purpose you uncover your heaps from time to time, and give the tobacco air, by spreading it abroad. This you continue to do till you find no more heat in the tobacco; then you pack it in hogsheads, and may transport it any where, without danger either of its heating or rotting.

II. Of the way of making Indigo.

The blue stone, known by the name of Indigo, is the extract of a plant which they who have a sufficient number of slaves to manage it, make some quantities throughout all this colony. For this purpose they first weed the ground, and make small holes in it with a hoe, about five inches asunder, and on a straight line. In each of these holes they put five or six seeds of the indigo, which are small, long, and hard. When they come up, they put forth leaves somewhat like those of box, but a little longer and broader, and not so thick and indented. When the plant is five or six inches high, they take

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care to loosen the earth about the root, and at the same time to weed it. They reckon it has acquired a proper maturity, when it is about three feet and a half high: this you may likewise know, if the leaf cracks as you squeeze the plant in your hand.

Before you cut it, you get ready a place that is covered in the same manner with the one made for tobacco, about twenty-five feet high; in which you put three vats, one above another, as it were in different stories, so that the highest is the largest; that in the middle is square, and the deepest; the third, at bottom, is the least.

After these operations, you cut the indigo, and when you have several arms-full, or bundles of the plant, to the quantity judged necessary for one working, you fill the vat at least three quarters full; after which you pour water thereon up to the brim, and the plant is left to steep, in order to rot it; which is the reason why this vat is called the rotting-tub. For the three or four hours which the plant takes to rot, the water is impregnated with its virtue; and, though the plant is green, communicates thereto a blue colour.

At the bottom of the great vat, and where it bears on the one in the middle (which, as was said, is square) is a pretty large hole, stopped with a bung; which is opened when the plant is thought to be sufficiently rotten, and all the water of this vat, mixed with the mud, formed by the rotting of the plant, falls by this hole into the second vat; on the edges of which are placed, at proper distances, forks of iron or wood, on which large long poles are laid, which reach from the two sides to the middle of the water in the vat; the end plunged in the water is furnished with a bucket without a bottom. A number of slaves lay hold on these poles, by the end which is out of the water; and alternately pulling them down, and then letting the buckets fall into the vat, they thus continue to beat the water; which being thus agitated and churned, comes to be covered with a white and thick scum; and in such quantity as that it would rise up and flow over the brim of the vat, if the operator did not take care to throw in, from time to time, some fish-oil, which he sprinkles with a feather upon this scum. For these reasons this vat is called the battery.

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They continue to beat the water for an hour and a half, or two hours; after which they give over, and the water is left to settle. However, they from time to time open three holes, which are placed at proper distances from top to bottom in one of the sides of this second vat in order to let the water run off clear. This is repeated for three several times; but when at the third time the muddy water is ready to come out at the lowermost hole, they stop it, and open another pierced in the lower part of that side, which rests on the third vat. Then all the muddy water falls through that hole of the second vat, into the third, which is the least, and is called the deviling (diablotin.)

They have sacks, a foot long, made of a pretty close cloth, which they fill with this liquid thick matter, and hang them on nails round the indigo-house. The water drains out gradually; and the matter which is left behind, resembles a real mud, which they take out of these sacks, and put in moulds, made like little drawers, two feet long by half a foot broad, and with a border, or ledge, an inch and a half high. Then they lay them out in the sun, which draws off all the moisture: and as this mud comes to dry, care is taken to work it with a mason's trowel: at length it forms a body, which holds together, and is cut in pieces, while fresh, with wire. It is in this manner that they draw from a green herb this fine blue colour, of which there are two sorts, one of which is of a purple dove colour.

III. Of Tar; the way of making it; and of making it into Pitch.

I have said, that they made a great deal of tar in this colony, from pines and firs; which is done in the following manner. It is a common mistake, that tar is nothing but the sap or gum of the pine, drawn from the tree by incision; the largest trees would not yield two pounds by this method; and if it were, to be made in that manner, you must choose the most thriving and flourishing trees for the purpose; whereas it is only made from the trees that are old, and are beginning to decay, because the older they are, the greater quantities they contain of that fat bituminous substance, which yields tar; it

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is even proper that the tree should be felled a long time, before they use them for this purpose. It is usually towards the mouth of the river, and along the sea-coasts, that they make tar; because it is in those places that the pines chiefly grow.

When they have a sufficient number of these trees, that are fit for the purpose, they saw them in cuts with a cross-cut saw, about two feet in length; and while the slaves are employed in sawing them, others split these cuts lengthwise into small pieces, the smaller the better. They sometimes spend three or four months in cutting and preparing the trees in this manner. In the mean time they make a square hollow in the ground, four or five feet broad, and five or six inches deep: from one side of which goes off a canal or gutter, which discharges itself into a large and pretty deep pit, at the distance of a few paces. From this pit proceeds another canal, which communicates with a second pit; and even from the first square you make three or four such trenches, which discharge themselves into as many pits, according to the quantity of wood you have, or the quantity of tar you imagine you may draw from it. Then you lay over the square hole four or five pretty strong bars of iron, and upon these bars you arrange crosswise the split pieces of pine, of which you should have a quantity ready; laying them so, that there may be a little air between them. In this manner you raise a large and high pyramid of the wood, and when it is finished, you set fire to it at the top. As the wood burns, the fire melts the resin in the pine, and this liquid tar distills into the square hole, and from thence runs into the pits made to receive it.

If you would make pitch of this tar, take two or three red-hot cannon bullets, and throw them into the pits, full of the tar, which you intend for this purpose: immediately upon which, the tar takes fire with a terrible noise and a horrible thick smoke, by which the moisture that may remain in the tar is consumed and dissipated, and the mass diminishes in proportion; and when they think it is sufficiently burnt, they extinguish the fire, not with water, but with a hurdle covered with turf and earth. As it grows cold, it becomes hard and shining, so that you cannot take it out of the pits, but by cutting it with an axe.

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IV. Of the Mines of Louisiana.

Before we quit this subject, I shall conclude this account by answering a question, which has often been proposed to me. Are there any Mines, say they, in this province? There are, without all dispute; and that is so certain, and so well known, that they who have any knowledge of this country never once called it in question. And it is allowed by all, that there are to be found in this country quarries of plaster of Paris, slate, and very fine veined marble; and I have learned from one of my friends, who as well as myself had been a great way on discoveries, that in travelling this province he had found a place full of fine stones of rock- crystal. As for my share, I can affirm, without endeavoring to impose on any one, that in one of my excursions I found, upon the river of the Arkansas, a rivulet that rolled down with its waters gold-dust; from which there is reason to believe that there are mines of this metal in that country. And as for silver-mines, there is no doubt but they might be found there, as well as in New Mexico, on which this province borders. A Canadian traveller, named Bon Homme, as he was hunting at some distance from the Post of the Nachitoches, melted some parcels of a mine, that is found in rocks at a very little distance from that Post, which appeared to be very good silver, without any farther purification. [See a farther account and assay of this mine above.]

It will be objected to me, perhaps, that if there is any truth in what I advance, I should have come from that country laden with silver and gold; and that if these precious metals are to be found there, as I have said, it is surprizing that the French have never thought of discovering and digging them in thirty years, in which they have been settled in Louisiana. To this I answer, that this objection is only founded on the ignorance of those who make it; and that a traveller, or an officer, ordered by his superiors to go to reconnoitre the country, to draw plans, and give an account of what he has seen, in nothing but immense woods and deserts, where they cannot so

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much as find a path, but what is made by the wild beasts; I say, that such people have enough to do to take care of themselves and of their present business, instead of gathering riches; and think it sufficient, that they return in a whole skin.

With regard to the negligence that the French seem hitherto to have shewn in searching for these mines, and in digging them, we ought to take due notice, that in order to open a silver-mine, for example, you must advance at least a hundred thousand crowns, before you can expect to get a penny of profit from it, and that the people of the country are not in a condition to be at any such charge. Add to this, that the inhabitants are too ignorant of these mines; the Spaniards, their neighbours, are too discreet to teach them; and the French in Europe are too backward and timorous to engage in such an undertaking. But notwithstanding, it is certain that the thing has been already done, and that just reasons, without doubt, but different from an impossibility, have caused it to be laid aside.

This author gives a like account of the culture of Rice in Louisiana, and of all the other staple commodities of our colonies in North America.

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Extract from a late French Writer, concerning the Importance of Louisiana to France.

"One cannot help lamenting the lethargic state of that colony, (Louisiana) which carries in its bosom the bed of the greatest riches; and in order to produce them, asks only arms proper for tilling the earth, which is wholly disposed to yield an hundred fold. Thanks to the fertility of our islands, our Sugar plantations are infinitely superior to those of the English, and we likewise excel them in our productions of Indigo, Coffee, and Cotton.

"Tobacco is the only production of the earth which gives the English an advantage over us. Providence, which reserved for us the discovery of Louisiana, has given us the possession of it, that we may be their rivals in this particular, or at least that we may be able to do without their Tobacco. Ought we to continue tributaries to them in this respect, when we can so easily do without them?

"I cannot help remarking here, that among several projects presented of late years for giving new force to this colony, a company of creditable merchants proposed to furnish negroes to the inhabitants, and to be paid for them in Tobacco alone at a fixed valuation.

"The following advantages, they demonstrated, would attend their scheme. I. It would increase a branch of commerce in France, which affords subsistence to two of the English colonies in America, namely Virginia and Maryland, the inhabitants of which consume annually a very considerable quantity of English stuffs, and employ a great number of ships in the transportation of their Tobacco. The inhabitants of those two provinces are so greatly multiplied, in consequence of the riches they have acquired by their commerce with us, that they begin to spread themselves upon territories that belong to us. II. The second advantage arising from the scheme would be, to carry the cultivation of Tobacco to its greatest extent and perfection. III. To diminish in proportion the cultivation of the English plantations, as well as lessen their navigation in that part. IV. To put an end entirely to the

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importation of any Tobacco from Great-Britain into France, in the space of twelve years. V. To diminish annually, and in the same space of time finally put an end to, the exportation of specie from France to Great- Britain, which amounts annually to five millions of our money for the purchase of Tobacco, and the freightage of English ships, which bring it into our ports. VI. By diminishing the cause of the outgoing specie, to augment the balance of commerce in favour of the nation. These are the principal advantages which France would have reason to have expected from the establishment of this company, if it had been effected." Essai sur les Interets du Commerce Maritime, par M. du Haye. 1754.

The probability of succeeding in such a scheme will appear from the foregoing accounts of Tobacco in Louisiana, pag. 172, 173, 181, 188, & c. They only want hands to make any quantities of Tobacco in Louisiana. The consequences of that will appear from the following account.

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An Account of the Quantity of Tobacco imported into Britain, and exported from it, in the four Years of Peace, after the late Tobacco-Law took place, according to the Custom-House Accounts.

                              Imported     Exported
                                Hhds.        Hhds.
                     1752 - - - 55,997 - -  48,922
  England,           1753 - - - 70,925 - -  57,353
                     1754 - - - 59,744 - -  50,476
                     1755 - - - 71,881 - -  54,384
                              ---------   ---------
                               258,547 - - 211,135
                              ---------   ---------
                     1752 - - - 22,322 - -  21,642
  Scotland,          1753 - - - 26,210 - -  24,728
                     1754 - - - 22,334 - -  21,764
                     1755 - - - 20,698 - -  19,711
                              ---------   ---------
                                91,564 - -  87,845
                              ---------   ---------
                   Total - - - 350,111 - - 298,980
                   Average - -  87,528 - -  74,745
               Imported yearly - - -  hhds  87,528
               Exported - - - - - - - - -   74,745
                                          ---------
                Home consumption - - - - -  12,783
To 87,528 hogsheads, at 10L per hogshead, L875,280
To duty on 12,783 hogsheads at 20L - - -   255,660
                                         ---------
Annual income from Tobacco - - - - -     1,130,940

The number of seamen employed in the Tobacco trade is computed at 4500;--in the Sugar trade 3600;--and in the Fishery of Newfoundland 4000, from Britain.